682 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



is well through with her parturition the father of the child goes to bed and the 

 mother has to wait on him as if he were the one who had given birth to the 

 child. If very sick they have their coffin made and placed in the house so as to 

 be ready when needed. 



While in Santa Ana we were called to see a very sick Mobima chief. He 

 resided in the country, but preferring to die in the village he had sent the measure 

 for his coffin ahead. While examining the patient a man entered and to our sur- 

 prise began to measure him. Comparison of his measurement with a string he 

 held in his hand gave him to understand that the coffin he had just made was too 

 short, upon which, he had supplicated the sick man to excuse his mistake and 

 obhge him by not dying yet for an hour, as by that time he could rectify the 

 mistake. Wait ! was his parting word as he ran out of the house to his work- 

 shop, and to his great satisfaction as he returned with the coffin, he found his 

 chief still alive. All these civilized tribes are very cleanly as to their persons and 

 dress. 



To this article is appended a comparative vocabulary of languages. The 

 words selected are from the 211 words adopted by the Smithsonian Institution. 

 Care has been taken to perfect the words so that they may be of use to travelers 

 and persons studying languages. The Mobima idiom was first obtained from the 

 Indians themselves and then read to Mrs. Cornelia Serabia de Suarez, an educated 

 lady, who corrected the words, spelling and meaning of many. 



The Canichana was corrected by Don Hugo Boger, a German and fine lin- 

 guist, long resident there. The Maropa by Mrs. Fetterman, a BoHvian lady who 

 learned it as her native tongue. The Tacana and Mosetana by the Padres of the 

 missions. The sounds of the vowels and letters are after the rules of the Spanish 

 language. The foot notes will assist one to understand them. It will be seen that 

 there is a great similarity between the Maropa and Tacana idioms. The Maropas 

 have many words that have significations widely different. Etra means bone 

 and also hair. Biya means a louse, wasp or urine. The Pacavaras count by 

 doubling into the palm of the hands the thumb and fingers repeating the word 

 nata as each is moved till the last, when they say echasu. Pointing to each toe 

 in succession and repeating nata, echasu, they count to twenty. Further numer- 

 ation is made by repetitions of the same twenty counts. The wanting numerals 

 of the other tribes are made by using the Spanish. 



Don Francisco Keller in his "Amazon and Madeira Rivers," gives a short 

 comparative vocabulary and Orton copies it, but they have greatly been misled 

 by some one, as reference to this vocabulary will prove. Keller was in Exaltacion 

 and Trinidad but a short time. The author spent two years carefully perfecting 

 his work. 



